Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi Episode 9

August 26, 2010

From being the one doing all of the helping throughout much of this series so far, it’s time for Ringo’s own issues to take centre stage for episode nine of Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakamatachi. Ringo’s specific problem appears to be with a girl named Himeno Shirayuki (the winner of the beauty contest earlier in the series, incidentally) and her seven dwarves… wait, not dwarves, what do they call those little people that wander around everywhere?

Ahh yes, children. So, despite Himeno requesting that the Otogi Bank babysit her seven siblings while she goes out to work, and more specifically requesting Ringo to do this, Ringo instead leaves it to Morino and Ryouko to do while watching from afar in a state of agitation.

Of course, we soon come to learn the reason for this; a complicated family affair involving Ringo and Himeno’s parents that effectively stripped the latter of her home, her father and his relative wealth. This has left Ringo filled with guilt ever since, to the point where she simply can’t speak to her step-sister no matter how hard she tries, and despite Himeno trying to get the ball rolling herself.

Never mind all that though, this story only seems to serve mostly as a good reason to shoehorn in a swimming pool episode and the swimsuits that it brings in its wake, leaving us with much of this instalment’s second half making the most of that before bringing Ringo in to save the day when Himeno almost drowns. So, that particular pairing lives happily ever after, and Ringo even does her bit to ensure her step-sister’s future education.

While I was actually quite pleased to see Ringo take centre stage at last within this series, come the end of the episode I was left wonder whether they should actually have bothered – this was a pretty lifeless episode that never really had any feelings of emotion or fun, and by the end of it all I really couldn’t have cared less what happened. As per usual with this series the show’s narrator was the only real source of entertainment, papering over the gaping cracks in what was otherwise an extremely mediocre episode.

So we have Ringo’s past now. A troublesome issue it seems. I didn’t expect that she would have a story like that. Not to mention the drowning in the pool but we needed drama for Ringo. At least we get the whole cast in swimsuits. So much win! Though it would have been better if Majo removed her glasses. Lol again with the extraction thing of Otohime and Tarou, I’m very curious about that.